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Metastable high-pressure phases of low-Z compounds: creation of a new chemistry or a prompt for old principles?

Nature Materials volume 3, pages 497–500 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Recent experiments demonstrate that high pressure is a powerful tool for the synthesis of new unusual inorganic polymers consisting of low-Z elements. However, experience within organic chemistry, for example, polyethylene, provides evidence that polymeric phases with high thermal stability can be potentially synthesised by conventional chemical techniques without applying high pressure.

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Figure 1: Solid–solid transformations from high- to low-pressure phases.
Figure 2: The relationship between Gibbs' free energy and temperature for stable and metastable phases.
Figure 3: Gibbs' free-energy diagrams illustrating the relationship between molecular or low-coordinated and polymerized states for ethylene and several low-Z elemental substances.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to S. M. Stishov, V. N. Ryzhov and V. V. Struzhkin for useful discussions. The work has been supported by Russian Foundation for Basic Research and the Russian Science Support Foundation.

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  1. Institute for High Pressure Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Troitsk, 142190, Moscow region, Russia

    V. V. Brazhkin & A. G. Lyapin

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  1. V. V. Brazhkin
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  2. A. G. Lyapin
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Correspondence to V. V. Brazhkin.

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Brazhkin, V., Lyapin, A. Metastable high-pressure phases of low-Z compounds: creation of a new chemistry or a prompt for old principles?. Nature Mater 3, 497–500 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1186

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